John Ware and Vivian White, two of the BBC's longest serving and most respected current affairs journalists, are leaving the corporation, with the latter bowing out with Panorama documentary Murdoch's Satellite TV Pirates later this month.

White's last Panorama as a BBC employee, a report to be broadcast on Monday 12 March, is, according to the corporation, "an investigation into fresh hacking allegations but at the heart of [Rupert Murdoch's] pay TV empire ... exposing how former police detectives were used to recruit people to break the law in order to bring down Murdoch's commercial rival".

The 65-year-old has covered a diverse range of subjects for the BBC, from the scandal of the elderly forced to sell their homes to pay for care, to presenting from the party political conferences.

In January, he made a popular Panorama programme about rising train fares. But since 2001 and 9/11 he has also reported extensively on British Muslims, including from Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan.

White, who has worked for Panorama for about 20 years, said: "For a reporter, it's an absolutely fantastic privilege to work there."

Ware, 64, who since 2007 has worked more broadly across BBC current affairs as well as for Panorma, is taking voluntary redundancy.

He said that although he had been critical about aspects of the BBC, including the power over current affair programmes exercised by channel controllers, he wasn't pushed: "I wanted to go."

In a leaked email, Ware described the former BBC1 controller, Jay Hunt, as shallow as a paddling pool.

Ware has worked for the BBC for 26 years, and has a deep knowledge and understanding of Northern Ireland's troubled past. He won TV journalist of the year from the Royal Television Society in 2001 for his programme titled Who Bombed Omagh?

"I have other things to do, probably a BBC2 programme, a book I want to write about the policing inquiry into the Omagh bombings. Panorama has got a tremendous momentum currently. It's on song."

His most recent Panorama, which screened in December, was about public finance initiatives, titled Who's Getting Rich on Your Money?

Panorama editor Tom Giles said: "I have known them both for ages and admire their work. I certainly envisage them doing more for me in future as freelancers."

The BBC's current affairs department is facing a restructure, which includes cutting posts, predating the current Delivering Quality First cuts.

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